Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Philippians 2:3

μηδέν. Probably, sc., φρονοῦντες, although no addition is necessary. This is the prevalent thought in the Apostle's mind. ἐριθείαν. It is no wonder that Paul should warn against this danger, seeing it was one of his most grievous vexations at Rome. ἤ. Read with best authorities μηδὲ κατά (see crit. note). κενοδ. Only here in N.T. Three times in LXX. Combined with ἀλαζονεία and μεγαλαυχία. The boastful expression of pride. Egotism and boastfulness were apparently the perils besetting the Philippian Church. These were natural excrescences of the zealous spirit which pervaded this community. It is a strange phenomenon in religious history that intense earnestness so frequently breeds a spirit mingled of censoriousness and conceit. τῇ ταπεινοφρ. The construction seems exactly parallel to Romans 11:20, τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ ἐξεκλάσθησαν = “on account of,” “by reason of”. Perhaps the article emphasises the generic idea (so Myr [90]). ταπεινός with derivatives, used in classical writers to denote a mean condition of self-debasement, had been already exalted by Plato and his school to describe that state of mind which submits to the Divine order of the universe and does not impiously exalt itself. It underwent a further stage of development in Christian literature, when it came to signify the spirit which most resembles that of Christ Himself. See an instructive note in Moule (CT [91] ad loc.).

[90] Meyer.

[91] Cambridge Greek Testament.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Philippians 2:3

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